Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.

Frozen II enters multiplexes this weekend, so I’m going to take a look at my five favorite Disney animated heroines. Most of these will come from the latter half of the 20th century as heroines in the early days tended to be built on massive stereotypes and it wasn’t until Belle in Beauty and the Best that they really came into their own.

While these may not be the all-time best Disney animated heroines or everyone’s agreement on the best, these five are among my favorites. Here they are in order of release.

Miss Bianca in The Rescuers (1977)

The vast majority of Disney’s heroines up to this point had been traditional princesses, most of them under some sort of curse or having to break free from a witch’s spell. Miss Bianca was a princess of a different sort. The Hungarian representative to an international organization of mice, Miss Bianca takes on the task of rescuing a young girl from the clutches of a nefarious villain wanting to use her to retrieve a valuable gem.

Voiced by Eva Gabor, Miss Bianca was clever, headstrong, compassionate, and more, evoking all the greatest aspects of such a character while limiting the sexist qualities to a minimum. She was the first heroine who stood out to me as something more than a pawn in an evil witch’s schemes. The film itself is an absolute blast with stellar vocal work by Gabor, Bob Newhart, Gerladine Page, and others.

Belle in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Although it was The Little Mermaid that relaunched Disney’s brand after several miserable years of mediocrity, Ariel was another garden variety princess searching for her prince. Belle, on the other hand, was the first of a new breed of Disney heroine that helped push Disney into the Best Picture nominations for Beauty and the Beast in 1991.

More interested in knowledge than marriage, Belle rebukes all those who wish to marry her, including the villainous Gaston. As she embarks on a journey to rescue her father, she becomes a captive to a hideous Beast. Falling in love is on her terms, not his, which is what makes her one of the strongest heroines in Disney’s oeuvre, not easily outdone.

Mulan in Mulan (1998)

Borrowing liberally from Chinese legend, Disney decided it would make an animated feature about the young woman who impersonated a man so she could prevent her father from having to return to the war with the Hun in bad physical shape.

Mulan goes through regimented training and eventually ends up leading her squadron in a courageous battle against the Hun. Focusing on the abandonment of social norms and becoming a prominent fighter in her own right, especially in a repressive society, displays the kind of strength of character that finished out the tremendous run of Disney animation in the 1990s on an incredibly high note.

Tiana in The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Just as Ariel had done in 1989 with the resurrection of the Disney brand, so too did Tiana in 2009 when Disney’s fortunes were revived in what would be the final major hand-drawn animated film Disney would release to theaters.

Tiana is a young woman who wants nothing more than to become a world-famous chef, opening her own restaurant and living her dream. While she does eventually fall in love, it’s all in her own time and of her own mind, but never without her life-affirming goal firmly in her vision and with nothing short of death standing in her way. That’s what makes Tiana one of the best.

Elsa and Anna in Frozen (2013)

While I’m less enamored with Frozen than a lot of Disney fans, there’s little question that Elsa is one of their strongest heroines to date. Burdened by the power to manipulate ice and snow, Elsa finds herself increasingly isolated after the death of her parents while her equally strong sister Anna does her best to be there for her.

As the film progresses, Elsa starts to meld into the classic villain archetype, not because of her actions, but because of her reasons. She’s emblematic of countless young girls who refuse to adhere to society’s strictures. In her legendary anthem “Let It Go,” she comes to finally realize that she is strong not because she has unparalleled power, but because she can let go of everyone’s expectations and requirements of her and live her life free and unhindered. Although her actions put her in the realm of villain, she comes out the other side a heroine.

Anna herself merits inclusion on this list. While she does not ignore the role society has for her, she embraces it and doesn’t care that it makes her seem like she’s supporting narrow cultural mores. Her strength instead comes from her ability to reach out and embrace her sister even when she’s doing potentially nefarious things. She doesn’t let danger stop her from opening herself up to someone who seems to be utterly lost. Perseverance and passion characterize her arc, which makes her just as deserving of her heroine status as Elsa is.